Helping Hand
by The.Benevolent.Void.Mistress
Summary: You meet an adorable little ghost on your way through the check out at your grocery store. See what happens! Napstablook X Reader!


It had been a loooong day. Your feet and back hurt and you wanted nothing more than to crash on your couch with your laptop and some tasty food. But first you had to get home. Only another couple blocks and you're home free. The thought alone made a small smile brighten your face. But your mood instantly soured when you remembered you hadn't gone grocery shopping for almost a full week. Which meant there was nothing for you to cook at home. You debated if you should just order some take out but immediately snuffed that idea out. You'd ordered pizza and Chinese two days in a row and you really couldn't afford to keep splurging like this. Take out wasn't cheap. So with a weak little half sob you turned down the next street and walked away from where your apartment was. Now you were heading towards the grocery store, intent on getting enough food to last you the few days until next week. And you live alone so you didn't even have to get much. Thank the stars for small miracles.

After getting in the store and grabbing a basket you started gathering food. Just some sandwich stuff, some chips to go with your sandwiches, some more tea and sugar, some frozen fish sticks and fries, and some ground beef and veggies for stew. After running over your mental shopping list you figured you had enough for a few days and decided you were done. As an after thought you grabbed something hot from the deli for when you got home. You knew you were going to be too tired to cook so this was your dinner. You pushed your basket to the closest line and waited, not even bothering to see who you got in line behind. After almost three minutes the line still hadn't moved. And the guy right behind you was huffing and generally looking upset it wasn't his turn yet. You idly wondered what was taking so long and glanced up at the person before you in line. Your eyebrows raised in mild surprise as you saw a cute little monster ghost doing their best to place the stuff from their basket onto the conveyor belt.

You wanted to squeal at how utterly adorable the little sheet ghost was! You wondered how you hadn't noticed him before. But you shook that thought off and studied the cutie. They were a perfect representation of what a child would draw if they thought of a ghost. They were white with the typical rounded top and fluttery bottom edges, no arms or legs in sight. They stood a little over four feet you guessed. So a bit shorter than you. But you think out of everything, their most noticeable feature was their big black eyes, they were the size of tea cup saucers. With a mental nod you concluded that this had to be the most adorable monster you've seen so far. And you work around a lot of them since they showed up almost five years before. But your inner thoughts were interrupted by that same guy behind you.

He groaned loudly and barked at the trembling little ghost, "Jesus, will you hurry up?! How hard can lifting a bag of greens be?"

The little ghost flinched at the guy's loud yell and seemed to fade out a bit like they wanted to disappear. Tears started to drip from their too large eyes and you sort of lost it. You rounded on the guy and yelled a few choice words back at him. Just who did he think he was? Hurting that poor little ghost's feelings like that! It was obvious they were doing their very best! And that's all anyone has the right to ask of them.

"You need to learn some manners before you come back out in public! Especially if screaming is how you handle someone not going as fast as you want them to! What are you, a toddler?! How about you take your stupid groceries and find another line huh?! If not then shut up!"

Your full on glare and angry hissed words succeeded in quieting the man. He just scowled and crossed his arms but said nothing. You instead turned back around to the wide eyed little ghost monster and gave him a gentle smile instead of the previous hostile look you gave to the jerk behind you both and offered to help them with their stuff.

" _... oh ... you don't have to ..._ "

Their airy voice seemed to falter but the tiny blue blush that dusted below their eyes revealed how happy they were for your positive attention. So you broadened your smile and waved their shy words off. You didn't mind helping the monster out.

"Oh it's no problem! You don't have much left in the cart anyways."

You picked up some bags of lettuce, spinach, and some smaller baggies of fruits. The last thing in the cart was a pair of monster brand headphones. You sat them on the conveyor belt too then went ahead and placed the bags back into the basket after the girl at the register rung them up. The little ghost seemed to pull a credit card out of nowhere and paid with it. Then they moved along and you bought all your stuff. You didn't have many bags, you could carry them all with one hand if you needed. But just as you turned to head out the exit you jolted to a stop when you saw that same little ghost floating a few inches off the ground in front of you. If they could shift from foot to foot you knew they would be, they looked that nervous. But just as you were about to ask what they needed they spoke up on their own.

" _... oh ... I just wanted to say thank you for helping me with my stuff ... i'm ... i'm Napstablook by the way ..._ "

You just gave them a patient smile and said it was alright before introducing yourself in return. You saw the two bags of theirs still in the shopping basket and offered to carry them.

"Do you need help with your bags? How far away do you live? If it's not too far I can carry them."

The little ghost blushed harder and stuttered a bit before saying they lived a block or so over. Apparently they'd just moved into a new apartment to be closer to their family and were still getting adjusted to it all. You nodded along to what they said before it clicked and you asked which apartment they were talking about. Your apartment building is comprised of two apartments since the building is relatively small. It actually used to be an old post office from way back but at some point it got renovated into what it is now. You've lived alone there for ages since the owner was really picky about who lived there and all. You only got the place because the owner used to play poker with your dad. So he knew you were a trustworthy kid.

" _... it's on 8th avenue ... it's a small building ... it has tall windows and is made of red brick ..._ "

Yep, that was your apartment alright. You told them so and they looked surprised. They'd heard the other apartment across from their's was taken, just not by who. It was a small world it seemed. So you both walked home and you tried to keep up some chit chat while you walked. Napstablook was almost painfully shy but they didn't make things awkward and tried to keep up with the conversation. And they let slip that they took care of some snails from the Underground. You said snails were cute and the little ghost gave you a tiny smile. And then after an uneventful walk you both arrived at the apartment. Napstablook tried to take their bags back but you moved your hands away and said you'd bring them in.

Napstablook looked reluctant to let you do anything else to help them but finally relented and showed you to his front door. He just went through the door, unknowingly leaving you awkwardly out in the hall for a second. You paused before knocking on the door and giggled when Napstablook rushed back through, their little face flushed in embarrassment. They apologized and said you were probably annoyed but you denied it vehemently and let them lead you into their apartment. It was the exact mirror of your apartment, only this apartment hardly had anything in it. Decor wise they only had a tv, a personal computer, a table, along with a couple photos. But you guessed since he'd just moved in it was expected. You also noticed that the tall windows were covered by thick curtains, which blocked out all natural light. The complete opposite of your place. You loved letting natural light in. But you shrugged it off. Perhaps it was just a ghost thing?

"You're the sweetest monster I've ever met Napsta~ I don't think I could ever be bothered by you."

Your smile was genuine, making the ghost blush harder and let out a weak '...oh...' as they watched you sit their bags down. But then what you'd called them sunk in and they stuttered before asking about it.

" _... did you call me Napsta ..._ "

You blinked before shyly stuffing your hand in your pocket. "Yeah I did, sorry if it bothers you. I can not do that if you want."

The ghost shook their head, or appeared to anyways, before saying they didn't mind. Your smile returned and so did the ghost's smile. But then you were reminded how hungry you were when your stomach gave a mighty growl. Napstablook's eyes seemed to widen and you blushed red before coughing.

"Wow sorry! Haha, I haven't eaten since lunch. I better go and fix my dinner. But it was nice meeting you Napsta. Maybe we can hang out sometime! You know, since we live right next to each other and all."

You suddenly felt sort of silly but perked up when Napstablook's little ghostly sheet looking ends fluttered a bit. Was that supposed to show excitement or joy or something? They sorta seemed to fade out, like they were feeling shy, but they asked if you wanted to come over and listen to some music together. You grinned and happily agreed.

"I'd love that Napsta~ I can show you some of my favorite artists and you can show me some of yours!"

The ghost seemed excited about this. Or as excited as he could be anyways. So after that you bid them farewell and went over to your place and ate dinner while watching some tv.

But on the other side of the building with Napstablook things were a bit more...loud. The little ghost had made the mistake of skyping their cousin and letting him know about what had happened to them while they'd gone out shopping.

"Oh Blooky you should have called me! I'd have stopped filming my movie and come over right away to handle that wretched human for you! Nobody talks to my cousin that way!"

Mettaton was working himself up into a fit of anger over what his cousin Napstablook told him happened to them that evening. The robot couldn't believe the nerve of some humans, attacking a sweet ghost like Napstablook. It was downright heartless. Like attacking a puppy or a kitten. Mettaton vowed that he would find that awful human and make them apologize for what they'd said to his darling cousin. But before he could plot any further Napstablook cut in.

" _... oh no ... you don't have to be upset Mettaton ... a-actually someone helped me so ..._ "

The blush on Napstablook's face immediately caught Mettaton's attention. His frown turned into a sly smile and he cooed for his cousin to please tell him more. Napstablook glanced away from his cousin's eager face. They were afraid Mettaton might get over excited but slowly they told him what happened at the check out line. About how the woman behind him stood up for them, and about how the woman walked them home, even carried their bags for them. The 7 foot tall monster robot listened attentively and squealed and bounced in his plush computer chair once Napstablook finished.

"Oh Blooky! You simply must tell me all about this lovely human you met! I want to meet them too!"

The blushing little ghost wanted to just faze through the floor and avoid what they knew was going to be an awkward, and no doubt embarrassing, conversation. But that would be mean. So they wouldn't do that. Especially not to their cousin that loved them. Instead they listened to said cousin go on and on about this and that. And they only cried a little when Mettaton brought up how cute he thought they and the human would be as a couple.


End file.
